Viguiliouk Law (Part 1): Introducing Maryana Viguiliouk

A Little About Myself

I am a Canadian lawyer who lives and practices in Mississauga, Ontario. I am a proud mom of three young children, and I am incredibly fortunate to be married to my best friend. I was born and raised in Ukraine and immigrated to Canada as a young adult. My journey (both personal and professional) has been a rewarding adventure and I am deeply grateful for the many opportunities (and challenges) life has given me. I am deeply fortunate to have found a calling that I enjoy and am passionate about. I wholeheartedly believe in the wise words of John Lennon who once said, “life is what happens when you're making other plans.”

A Little About My Education

I first embarked on my legal education journey over a decade ago while I was still living in my hometown of Lviv, Ukraine. There, I stumbled upon what turned into my life-long passion - love of law. After completing my first year of the civil law program at I. Franko National University of Lviv, my family and I had to leave our home. Starting a new in Canada was anything but easy. Eventually, I worked my way into the Bachelor of Arts program at York University, where I specialized in political science. I then obtained my Juris Doctor from the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law. While working towards my legal education and starting my legal practice, I also married my loving husband and best friend, became a proud mom of three wonderful children, met many amazing people whom I am honoured to call my friends and mentors, and became a part of the esteemed Bar of Ontario.

A Little About My Practice

I am a solo practitioner practicing in all areas of Canadian immigration and citizenship law. In addition to my immigration law practice, I assist clients in the areas of wills and estate planning law, estate administration and guardianship law. Most recently, I have also embarked on what I consider to be one of the most fascinating areas of law, fertility law, and have decided to expand my practice to offer intended surrogates and parents legal assistance with their needs.

My practice is very much driven by my passion for advocacy and commitment to social justice. I have done a significant part of my work on a pro-bono basis either through directly representing individuals who would otherwise not be able to obtain a qualified legal representation or through volunteering with the community legal aid clinic(s). I truly believe that lawyers are in an incredible position to help members of their community to advocate for positive change.

I also consider myself a part of a new wave of lawyers who do not live in their offices. In fact, my laptop and my phone are my office. As a mom of three young children, this provides me with the very much-needed flexibility and allows me to stay in practice. I am also a big advocate for 'mothers-at-law', which is obviously a result of my personal experience of hustling between parenting and lawyering. My husband and I had our oldest child during my second year of law school, our middle one was born shortly after I was called to the Bar, and our youngest one was born during the holidays three years later. There were many times when I was contemplating on taking a break from law to focus on parenting; however, I am glad that I never did. Instead, I figured out that I can be practicing out of my home office and I turned my hustling between lawyering and parenting into my advocacy quest towards greater flexibility and better opportunities for mothers-at-law. The recent Covid-19 pandemic has reaffirmed that this “different way of lawyering”, is not so different after all. Contrary, it showed how far behind our legal system has been in terms of adaptability and flexibility. So, when continuously improving my practice, I strive to be adaptive to the changes and challenges my clients and my practice is presented with; this helps to build a more inclusive, resilient, and modern law practice.